Expert category
Real estate damages expert witnesses
The loss to what the owner keeps. It is measured as a difference between two values rather than estimated directly, and it is the item most often missing from an agency offer.
Scope
The questions this expert answers
How much is the remainder worth less
The before and after difference, less the value of the land taken.
Is this damage special or general
Harm shared with the neighbourhood is generally not compensable. Only damage arising from the taking of this property qualifies.
Does the proposed cure actually cure
A cure that leaves the property less useful has not restored it, and the residual is still owed.
What does the market pay for a property like this now
Comparable sales of similarly affected remainders, which is the strongest available evidence.
Can the loss be offset by a benefit
In many states a special benefit offsets, a general one does not. The rule varies enough to need checking locally.
What is temporary and what is permanent
Construction period disruption is treated very differently from permanent impairment.
Selection
What to check before engaging
| Criterion | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Method | Applies before and after rather than estimating harm directly |
| Evidence | Produces comparable sales of similarly affected property, not assertion |
| Separation | States severance damages separately from the land taken |
| Cure testing | Checks that a proposed cure is possible, permitted and complete |
| Jurisdiction | Knows the local rule on offsetting benefits |
| Income analysis | For let property, can show the effect in rent and vacancy rather than opinion |
In practice
Four ways damages disappear from a report
Stated as none, with no analysis. A conclusion of zero needs the same reasoning as any other number, and its absence is a gap rather than a finding.
A narrow larger parcel. Excluding adjoining land the owner uses as one operation removes the damage to it by construction.
Cost to cure substituted for the loss. Paying to rebuild a driveway is right only if the new driveway serves the property as well as the old one did.
An after value taken before the project. If the remainder is valued as a clean smaller parcel rather than a parcel next to the completed project, the harm cannot appear.
Listed experts
Experts in this category
The directory is being built. Experts practising in this category can write to editorial@eminentdomainexpertwitness.com. Listing is free, requires evidence of credentials and condemnation experience, and is not sold.
In the meantime, how to find an expert sets out the four routes that reach the same population, and the questions worth asking before you engage anyone.
Questions about this category
The agency says there are no severance damages
That is an opinion and it must be supported. An appraisal review is how it gets tested, and it costs a fraction of a full valuation.
How large are severance damages typically
There is no typical figure. On some frontage strips they are nil; on a severed commercial site they can exceed the land value several times over.
Is diminution of value the same thing
Broadly, yes, in this context. Diminution is the general term for the loss; severance damages is the name it carries when a partial taking caused it.
Do I have to prove it myself
You need evidence, which in practice means an appraisal. Whoever asserts a figure needs support for it.
Related
Other categories
Eminent Domain
The primary category. Valuation and testimony in condemnation and just compensation disputes, covering every discipline a taking can put in issue.
Real Estate Appraisal
Certified appraisers who value property for condemnation rather than for lending, working to USPAP and, on federally assisted projects, the Yellow Book.
Fair Market Value
Opinions on what the market would have paid at the valuation date, under the legal definition rather than a general sense of worth.
Land Use and Zoning
Entitlement probability, zoning compliance after a taking, and whether the remainder can still be developed for the use it was valued on.
Land Surveying
Boundaries, easements, encroachments, right of way plans and the survey evidence a partial taking turns on.
Utilities and Corridors
Transmission lines, pipelines and utility corridors: easement scope, depreciation and the value of rights rather than title.
The right expert is the one whose field actually covers the dispute
Start from what is contested, not from a list of names. The category pages explain which discipline answers which question.